|
Craftivism is a contemporary art project that responds to the resurgent interest in craft as it relates to socially-engaged art practices. Craftivism will involve fourteen projects developed by artists and collectives that work with craft-based traditions and activist practices, and who employ the tactics of craftivism (combining crafting + activism) to question, disrupt or replace the dominant modes of mass culture and consumerism.
The project attempts to collapse the distinction between 'making' and 'doing' - the former associated with craft, the latter with human endeavour - to characterise making/doing as ethical action. It places an emphasis on interaction and participation in the wider social realm, and employs aspects of self-organisation and ‘open-source’ principles.
Craftivism is developed in relation to a range of contexts and to include artist-led participatory projects developed with local communities; online and free software-related projects; a gallery-based interactive exhibition; workshops; performances; film and music. An opening weekend programme includes unCraftivism, an open event that explores distributed forms of curating.
Craftivism will involve artists who engage with craft-based traditions through diverse practices including art, technology, performance, design and fashion.
The project will invite public interaction and provide opportunities to take part, make work and learn craft-based skills to customise products. It will encourage wider communities to embrace the ‘freedom’ to create, modify and distribute products and demonstrates the possibilities for people to modify their own lives.
Craftivism is part of the Artist/Activist season, a series of Arnolfini projects in Autumn/Winter 2009/2010 which will provide a socially-active forum for debate and learning around issues of climate change and alternatives to the culture of consumerism.
|